Broken heart syndrome, or stress cardiomyopathy, presents with symptoms very similar to a heart attack. However, unlike a heart attack, there is no blockage in the constricted artery. Doctors now believe that secretions of adrenaline constrict the artery, preventing blood flow to the heart.
It was only in the past 20 years that the medical community was able to pinpoint the diagnosis and start to theorize why it occurs.
The official diagnosis of broken heart syndrome is made in several steps:
- Critical presentation: The patient presents with chest pain, shortness of breath, diaphoresis, etc.
- EKG changes: An EKG shows that the patient is in the process of having a cardiac event.
- Lab tests: “When the heart cell is damaged it leaks a chemical into the blood stream because the cell wall is disrupted. It leaks these chemicals into the blood stream that we’re able to measure so we know for sure that damage was done to the heart muscle and the heart valves,” said Dr. Robert Skotnicki, a cardiologist and co-director of the Resistant Hypertension Clinic for PinnacleHealth System.
- Cath lab: Doctors inject dye into each coronary artery to find out where the blockage or spasm is occurring.
Doctors then tie the broken heart syndrome to an emotionally or physically stressful event, which occurred within 24-48 hours of the cardiac episode.
While most patients recover completely, it is still a serious health issue.
“The scary thing is because the heart is damaged there is a slight risk that the heart could go into irregular heartbeats and things like that,'' said Dr. Sang Kim, a cardiologist with Capital Cardiovascular Associates Holy Spirit Cardiovascular Institute.
"It doesn’t happen commonly, but that’s another reason why we want you in the hospital, so we can put you on the right medicines to prevent those things from happening,” Kim said.